II. Field and Purview
This invention concerns a quick liner release strip for a waste container, for fixation on an inside wall of the container to provide for air to a bottom part of the container. The strip, which is substantially straight overall and has a hollow conduit for communication of the air, has an oblique lower terminus and/or internal reinforcing.
II. Art and Problems
The advent of the liner bag for plastic trash cans has made garbage disposal more tidy. It also brought with it problems of liner insertion or removal difficulties from too much or little air between liner and can, especially removal when full, owing to the vacuum force encountered when pulling the liner from the can.
Some art addresses venting for the purpose of insertion or filling of the liner bag. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,715,572 to Robbins, III et al., and 5,065,891 to Casey.
In addressing the problem of difficult removal, various art has been developed to permit communication of air under the bag to relieve the vacuum, among which may be mentioned, in addition to Robbins, III et al., U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,294,379 to Bard, 5,156,290 to Rodrigues, 5,375,732 to Bowers et al., and 5,388,717 to LeVasseur, all showing containers that have built-in features for ingress of air. Among drawbacks of such art include the increased complexity of the containers, which makes for increased cost; a difficulty in keeping these containers with their vents clean; and, notably in a trash can as of LeVasseur, an increased likelihood of leakage when liquids are stored for disposal.
Attachable vent devices especially for ingress of air to aid in removal of the liner have also been proposed, among which are mentioned those found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,492,241 to Barnett et al., 6,015,063 to Poliquin, 6,594,876 to Stastny, and 6,634,518 to Jones. Among drawbacks of such art generally can include a relatively heavy construction for the tube or conduit vent; a more complicated three-dimensional shape for the vent such as in Jones or its attachment member such as in Poliquin; inadvertent and sometimes messy removal of an unsecured vent with removal of a full bag such as with an embodiment from Poliquin, Jones, or Stastny; a difficulty if not near impossibility of adaptation to variously sized containers as in the devices of Barnett et al., Poliquin, and Jones; and drilling holes in the container itself such as taught in Stastny, which can damage the container.
Another drawback is that a liner may get torn from a vent with a sharply protruding end, especially during removal and when it is full, causing spillage of its contents. Compare, Bard, Barnett et al., and Poliquin.
It would be desirable to ameliorate or solve such drawbacks.